The first part of this volume describes the arising of the bodhicitta and the bodhisattva's path to Enlightenment in a weaving together of the sublime and the inspiringly practical, and the second part is a commentary on Santideva's classic 8th-century text, the Bodhicaryavatara, based on a seminar given in 1973.
2020 New York City Big Book Awards Winner in Self-Help: Motivational 2020 14th Annual National Indie Excellence Award-Winner in Self-Help Motivational 2019 IPPY Gold Medal Winner: Self Help 2019 Nautilius Book Awards Gold Winner in Personal Growth & Self-Help 2019 Next Generation Indie Book Awards: Gold Medal Winner in Motivational 2019 Readers’ Favorite Awards: Gold Medal Winner in Nonfiction Self-Help 2019 Eric Hoffer Award Winner: Self-Help 2019 Independent Author Network Book of the Year Awards: First Place in Self-Help 2019 Chanticleer I & I Book Awards for Instruction and Insight Finalist 2019 International Book Awards: Finalist, Self-Help: General 2019 Nancy Pearl Best Book Award: Finalist in Memoir 2019 Eric Hoffer Montaigne Medal: Finalist 2019 Foreword Indies Finalist: Adult Nonfiction—Self-Help Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2018 Being kind is something most of us do when it’s easy and when it suits us. Being kind when we don’t feel like it, or when all of our buttons are being pushed, is hard. But that’s also when it’s most needed; that’s when it can defuse anger and even violence, when it can restore civility in our personal and virtual interactions. Kindness has the power to profoundly change our relationships with other people and with ourselves. It can, in fact, change the world. In A Year of Living Kindly—using stories, observation, humor, and summaries of expert research—Donna Cameron shares her experience committing to 365 days of practicing kindness. She presents compelling research into the myriad benefits of kindness, including health, wealth, longevity, improved relationships, and personal and business success. She explores what a kind life entails, and what gets in the way of it. And she provides practical and experiential suggestions for how each of us can strengthen our kindness muscle so choosing a life of kindness becomes ever easier and more natural. An inspiring, practical guide that can help any reader make a commitment to kindness, A Year of Living Kindly shines a light on how we can create a better, safer, and more just world—and how you can be part of that transformation.
Inspiration and encouragement for cultivating kindness—by embracing the joy, suffering, confusion, and brilliance of our everyday lives—from the author of When Things Fall Apart Do you want to be a more compassionate person, confident and unafraid to love yourself and the world around you unconditionally, but aren’t sure how? We often look far and wide for guidance to become better people, as though the answers were somewhere out there. But Pema Chödrön suggests that the best and most direct teacher for awakening loving-kindness is in fact your very own life. Based on talks given during a one-month meditation retreat at Gampo Abbey, where Pema lives and teaches, her teachings here focus on learning how to see the events of our lives as the perfect material for learning to love ourselves and our world playfully and wholeheartedly—and to live in our skin fearlessly, without aggression, harshness, or shame. This is instruction for embarking on the greatest adventure of all, to come alive to your inherent human kindness. “Perhaps what makes Pema's message resonate so strongly with people, no matter what their religion or spiritual path, is its universality.” —O, The Oprah Magazine
"Living Kindness: Buddhist Teachings for a Troubled World" is an exploration of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity, the so-called "Brahmaviharas" or Divine Abodes. Combining a close reading of several suttas from the Pali Canon with personal reflections on trying to fulfill the Buddha's challenge to be free from ill-will, the book is at once intimate and far-reaching in its scope. "'In Living Kindness: Buddhist Teachings for a Troubled World, ' Kevin Griffin offers a clear and well-sourced reflection of the classical Buddhist teaching on loving-kindness practice. Skillfully contextualizing these teachings for our current time, Kevin shows that the teachings are as alive and relevant today as they were when they were first taught 2,600 years ago. Kevin has written an exceptional book, one that could serve equally well as a starting point for understanding the Buddhist teaching on kindness or to deepen your understanding in an already established meditation practice." Sharon Salzberg, author of "Real Happiness" and "Real Love." "Kevin has written a practical and accessible guide on how to take loving-kindness and transform it from an idea, into something we can truly live with and live by. This is a great support for practitioners in negotiating their experience of living in this world." Ajahn Pasanno, abbot Abhayagiri Monastery, and author of "Abundant, Exalted, Immeasurable." "'Living Kindness' is a liberating book, both for the intellect and the heart. Kevin Griffin is grounded in a deep understanding of what the Buddha taught, and he makes those teachings come alive with his personal stories and insights. 'Living Kindness' is not just a guide to the spiritual path; it is also a companion." Wes Nisker, author and Buddhist teacher. "Living Kindness is a delightful, inspiring, and profound book on one of the primary forms of love taught by the Buddha. Kevin Griffin's decades of living with these teachings come through in these honest and insightful reflections." Gil Fronsdal, author of "The Buddha before Buddhism: Wisdom from the Early Teachings"
Self-compassion is a life-changing way of thinking that is rooted in Mindfulness. By learning to have more loving kindness and forgiveness for ourselves, we have more empathy and compassion for others. The self-compassion movement has been growing rapidly over the past two years with recent research into the neuroscience of compassion showing that changing our thinking habits makes new neural pathways in the brain - and that compassion can be learned. The benefits of this practice are personal and global, from learning to manage chronic pain to relieving stress, boosting the immune system and circulation, along with improving relationships as we connect more authentically with others.
A New York Times Bestseller For Lady Gaga, kindness is the driving force behind everything she says and does. The quiet power of kindness can change the way we view one another, our communities, and even ourselves. She embodies this mission, and through her work, brings more kindness into our world every single day. Lady Gaga has always believed in the importance of being yourself, being kind to yourself, and being kind to others, no matter who they are or where they come from. With that sentiment in mind, she and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, founded Born This Way Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making the world a kinder and braver place. Through the years, they've collected stories of kindness, bravery and resilience from young people all over the world, proving that kindness truly is the universal language. And now, we invite you to read these stories and follow along as each and every young author finds their voice just as Lady Gaga has found hers. Within these pages, you’ll meet young changemakers who found their inner strength, who prevailed in the face of bullies, who started their own social movements, who decided to break through the mental health stigma and share how they felt, who created safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth, and who have embraced kindness with every fiber of their being by helping others without the expectation of anything in return. In one story, you’ll read about a young person with an autoimmune disease, who after being bullied at school, learned how to practice self-love and started an organization with the mission of educating others about the importance of self-love, too; and in another story, you’ll meet a young person who decided to start a movement to help eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health and encouraged others to talk about their feelings openly and honestly, a reminder that kindness and mental wellness go hand in hand. Not only were we moved by these individual acts of kindness, but we were also touched by the many stories of organizations, neighborhoods, and entire communities that fully dedicated themselves to helping those in need and found new, innovative ways to make our world a kinder and braver place. Individually and collectively, these stories prove that kindness not only saves lives but builds community. Kindness is inclusion, it is pride, it is empathy, it is compassion, it is self-respect and it is the guiding light to love. Kindness is always transformational, and its never-ending ripples result in even more kind acts that can change our lives, our communities, and our world.
Kindness Diaries is now trending on Netflix! Follow the inspirational journey of a former stockbroker who leaves his unfulfilling desk job in search of a meaningful life. He sets out from Los Angeles on a vintage motorbike, determined to circumnavigate the globe surviving only on the kindness of strangers. Incredibly, he makes his way across the U.S., through Europe, India, Cambodia, and Vietnam, and finally to Canada and back to the Hollywood sign, by asking strangers for shelter, food, and gas. Again and again, he’s won over by the generosity of humanity, from the homeless man who shares his blanket to the poor farmer who helps him with his broken down bike, and the HIV-positive mother who takes him in and feeds him. At each stop, he finds a way to give back to these unsuspecting Good Samaritans in life-changing ways, by rebuilding their homes, paying for their schooling, and leaving behind gifts big and small. The Kindness Diaries will introduce you to a world of adventure, renew your faith in the bonds that connect people, and inspire you to accept and generate kindness in your own life.
Throughout our lives we long to love ourselves more deeply and find a greater sense of connection with others. Our fear of intimacy—both with others and with ourselves—creates feelings of pain and longing. But these feelings can also awaken in us the desire for freedom and the willingness to take up the spiritual path. In this inspiring book, longtime meditation practitioner and teacher Sharon Salzberg shows how the Buddhist path can help us discover the radiant, joyful heart within each one of us, drawing on Buddhist teachings, wisdom from various traditions, her personal experiences, and guided meditation exercises. With these tools, she teaches how the practice of lovingkindness can illuminate a path to cultivating love, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity—the four “heavenly abodes” of traditional Buddhism.
The original collection of inspirational true stories about acts of kindness and generosity of spirit—with suggestions for living more compassionately. The unprecedented success of Random Acts of Kindness has not only inspired many individuals, but also led Congress to declare a National Random Acts of Kindness Week in February 1995. The inspiration for the kindness movement, Random Acts of Kindness is an antidote for a weary world. The true stories, thoughtful quotations, and suggestions for generosity in this book will inspire you to live more compassionately and experience the joys of sharing and kindness. What if everyone started performing good deeds every day? This inspiring collection presents many true stories of people who’ve committed, received, and observed voluntary acts of kindness—and seen for themselves how small acts of goodness can make a big difference in people’s lives. A USA Today Best Bet for Educators